The Junior League of Buffalo has announced its location for the 2021 Decorators’ Show House, and a group of 4 of Villa Maria’s interior design students will be contributing to the space.
“I am pleased to announce that our students were awarded the space that we bid on for the 2021 Junior League Show House,” said Sandra Reicis, a professor of interior design at the College. “Bailey Boyer, ’22, Alexis Carrington, ’22, Taylor Grodesky, ’22, and Emmalee Lowe, ’22, have exemplary design skills and they put them to good use when they put their proposal together.”
This year’s show house is the Grace Millard Knox House, a 28,000-square foot, French Renaissance-style home. The house, which was built by NYC Architect Charles Pierrepont H. Gilbert between 1915-1918 for the widow of Seymour Knox, includes a reading room, which is the space Boyer, Carrington, Grodesky, and Lowe will be designing.
“Once upon a time, this space immediately off the main lobby served as Gentlemen’s Lounge,” the group’s proposal begins. “We propose transforming the space into a reading room with décor and creative accents inspired by the properties of a book.”
The students have suggested complementing the home’s original paneling and wainscoting with calming grey and navy blue tones, a nod towards torn book pages is interpreted by combining a vertical, horizontal, and diagonal striped wallcovering, a custom art installation, and more.
The Grace Millard Knox House is located on the historic “Millionaire Row” at 800 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY. Mrs. Knox raised her three children here and the Knox family remained at the residence until it was sold in 1969 to the Montefiore Club, a private men’s club. It is the current location of the Computer Task Group building and was recently sold to Ross Cellino for the new corporate headquarters of his law firm, Cellino Law.
The Grace Millard Knox House will be open for public viewing from August 21 through September 18, 2021. A “sneak peek” of the undecorated home will take place on May 8-9 and May 15-16, 2021. Tickets go on sale Monday, March 15 at 9 AM.
The Grace Millard Knox House will be the 21st Decorators’ Show House sponsored by the Junior League of Buffalo and The Buffalo News. To date, the Decorators’ Show Houses have yielded proceeds totaling over $4.4 million, allowing 23 cultural and human service organizations to receive significant funding for high impact programs benefiting Buffalo and Erie County. Applications for the grant proceeds of the 21st Decorators’ Show House will to available in 2022.
To learn more about Villa Maria College’s interior design program, visit villa.edu/academics/academic-programs/interior-design.
